CON JOB: Don’t expect ESPN’s “College GameDay” crew of Chris Fowler (left), Lee Corso (center) and Kirk Herbstreit to report on Nike’s vast influence in high school and college athletics, because they’re on the Nike payroll. Photo: Getty Images

Three more ESPN reporters/personalities/journalists/ shills/Disney characters — at ESPN, titles change with the wind, the tide and the latest network deal — have been revealed to have the kind of conflicted interests that fifth-grade class vice presidents would avoid.

Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso — core members of ESPN’s college football team — are on Nike’s payroll, largely to lend their presence to Nike promotional enterprises. Nike, as if they and ESPN didn’t know, is the largest steamroller among the sneaker cartel that has infiltrated, penetrated, dominated and eviscerated U.S. high school and college sports.

But it’s not as if Corso, Herbstreit and Fowler would have any reason to report on any of that, ya know? And it’s not as if Nike would have any reason to pay them off, ya know?

Sneaker companies order American universities and their coaches, network execs and broadcasters to roll over, play dead, lie down and just plain lie. Good boys! Dog biscuits for all!

But beyond the corruption, what’s the big deal? It’s not as if thoughtful fans any longer rely on ESPN to serve any loftier goal than to advance the ESPN/Disney brand and the wishes of its business partners. And Nike and ESPN have long been joined at the wallet, ESPN partnering to televise events title-sponsored by Nike.

Hey, ESPN’s lead college basketball voice for over 20 years, Dick Vitale, never stopped working for Nike, a company now so muscled and so brazen that it barely disguises its control of the underworld that has called the shots in high school and college sports the past 25 years.

It’s too late now. That runaway train long ago left the station, ESPN in the luxury car. Only the hopelessly lost would rely on ESPN for no-strings-attached, good faith TV.

ESPN wants it both ways. It wants credit for being a legit news organization when it pretends to be, often taking credit for scoops that have been lifted from other news entities, while at other times it’s a home shopping network — seen any good (Disney) movies lately? – and pimping for those it’s supposed to cover.

Consider that Herbstreit, Fowler and Corso appeared in an ESPN commercial with Florida football coach Urban Meyer, recently hired by ESPN. Did it matter to ESPN or its college football reporters that they cover Meyer and his win-at-all-costs program, one that in six seasons produced 27 arrests, with more ugly news (from the NCAA) anticipated?

ESPN chose Drew Rosenhaus, a bombastic, oily agent to many of the worst college and pro football acts, to star in an ESPN commercial. Forget journalism; what anyone with the most rudimentary sense of right from wrong would avoid ESPN runs to embrace.

Since it was purchased by Disney in 1996, ESPN, by its own admission, has striven to become a brand. It has succeeded. It has no greater good-faith devotion to audiences than a bag of Doritos and a can of Bud.

Are there ESPN staffers who would love to practice journalism on ESPN’s time and dime? Lots of them, some with degrees in journalism. But all they can do is tiptoe and whisper, trying to do the best they can do under increasingly preposterous and embarrassing circumstances.

Just as “Manny Being Manny” is the sad rationale for indulging the selfish antics of Manny Ramirez, more ESPNers on Nike’s payroll — or engaging in any activity that leaves them compromised, co-opted, sold out, silenced — only makes for fresh same old news. It’s just ESPN being ESPN.

Lemieux hypocrisy a travesty

If you watched it — a freak show in three parts — it’s tough to disagree with Penguins’ co-owner and legend Mario Lemieux. He condemned last Friday’s revenge-themed, fight-filled Penguins-Islanders game as “a travesty.”

“It was painful to watch the game I love turn into a sideshow,” he said, adding that the NHL failed to “send a clear and strong message that those kinds of actions are unacceptable and embarrassing to the sport.”

Funny thing, though, one day the kids in the neighborhood dumped the Mario Bros. video games for “Mario Lemieux Hockey.” Just one look. They loved that video game. Not that they all were hockey fans.

As a “sideshow,” Mario Lemieux Hockey had a fighting mode — the kids could skip the hockey, click straight to the fighting mode. The Mario Lemieux video game even scored the fights, knockout punches to players’ heads worth the most.

So today we induct Lemieux into the Sports Endorsement Stall of Fame. He joins, among others:

* Joe Torre — As Yankees manager he swore in his book that he never reads the local papers during baseball season, then was heard in commercials for a local newspaper claiming that he reads every word during the season.

* Charles Barkley — Was surprised to learn the contents of a book he wrote.

* HBO’s Jim Lampley — Played himself, a trusted national TV journalist, in an obviously bogus commercial for a finance company headed by a man who soon pleaded guilty to wire fraud.

* Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — In one of his books he credits his NBA longevity — 20 years — to wearing low-cut sneakers, claiming that high-tops transfer shock to the knees. He then did TV ads for Reebok high-tops.

In another of his books, Abdul-Jabbar claimed to assiduously avoid drinking alcohol. He wrote drinking not only violates Islam, it destroys families. He then did a TV commercial for Coors.

Barkley blows L.A. pick

Charles Barkley, on tape Wednesday night with Jay Leno, pulled a Mike Francesa. Asked if the Lakers would win that night in Cleveland, Barkley scoffed. Of course, they would beat the Cavaliers, worst of the worst. Final score: Cavs 104, Lakers 99.

* Incidentally, Francesa’s sudden knowledge of Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme was supplied by his law enforcement sources in Ramapo, N.J.

* Ewen Murray, European Tour TV commentator who Sunday ripped Tiger Woods for spitting on the 18th green, is lucky. Do that here and you lose your job.